Re: [orca-list] OpenSolaris (was Re: An Open Letter to Oracle on the Topic Of Accessibility)

[Jason White <jason jasonjgw net>]

Michael Whapples <mwhapples aim com> wrote:
> Thanks for that info, is there a doc explaining it in a little more
> detail? It just goes to show I rely too much on speakup and speakup
> only in text consoles. Well I use brltty as well but I don't think
> it has drivers for solaris virtual consoles).

So far as I know, you are right: to use it under Solaris you need to run a
patched version of GNU Screen.

There was an article published a month or more ago indicating that Oracle were
planning to promote Solaris primarily on high-end servers, not on the desktop,
which could amount to a change in direction, to some extent, of Solaris
development.

Also remember that it isn't fully open-source or free software (there are
binary-only components that still haven't been replaced, and which can't be
released in source form for legal reasons). It is also my impression that the
community associated with it is very small, and that it remains highly
dependent on Sun (now Oracle) for its development.

Linux has a much larger community of developers and is gaining features
(Btrfs, tracing etc.) equivalent to those which make Solaris 10 attractive.
FreeBSD is taking those features directly from Solaris. The situation
regarding BRLTTY is the same on FreeBSD as on Solaris: no support for virtual
consoles. Although I may try FreeBSD at some point under virtualization, the
lack of console access is a sufficient reason not to run it on any of my
systems.

So far, Linux has been the best at incorporating accessibility-related
features at the kernel level and in offering virtual consoles conducive to
braille support. Of course, Orca should run equally well on all of the above
systems.